Wrestling Books

This Book gives a good Bio of many of the Stars but Mr Hofstede
makes too many mistakes or leaves out details.Here are two:
He says that the Giant got dropped on his head at Souled 97 but
it actually occurred on January 24 at WCW/NWO Souled Out.He also
when mentioning the Owen Hart/Steve Austin Incident forgets to
point out it was a Tombstone Piledriver, not a Regular Piledriver.Before this Person ever writes another book on
Wrestling, I Suggest he Watch every WWF,WCW, and ECW Pay-Per-
View to make damn sure he gets his dates and times right.

This book was definitely interesting to read, but being a long-time fan of pro-wrestling I didn't learn a lot from it. There are numerous errors in the book, too numerous to list. The author's choice of wrestlers to write about is a little strange - No lenglth mention of Eddie Guerrero, Ricky Steamboat, The Steiner Brothers, Juventud Guerra, Billy Kidman, Booker T, etc. No ECW, Japanese or Mexican wrestlers (referring to promotion, not race) are profiled.

However, for beginning fans of pro-wrestling, this book is definitely a good read. You won't notice the errors but will learn a lot about the way the business works.

A good read, but a lot of the information is available for free if you look around on the internet.

I loved this book. It's written by someone who knows what he's talking about, and I found it extremely well-researched. It's also surprisingly funny. Slammin' knows not to take wrestling too seriously, yet pays fitting tribute to the talented athletes who perform in the sport. Highly recommended.

I bought this book to use with kids ages 6-13 and found it useful and informative. I especially liked the coaching tips found with each drill.

Good little book on the basics for any coach for wrestling practice. The games section could have been left off, there are better ones.

This book isn't bad. It doesn't show the fine points that a Gracie or Machado book might show. It would have been better if he would have combined all of his books into one.

Most of the escapes I have seen and they work sometimes, not always, some require strength, some don't, Also if your fighting an experienced fighter, they probably know these, so they might not work against them. This is where his discussion about patience and not being in a rush to win is correct.

I would not recommend this book to newbies, but to intermediate/advanced students who have the benefit of some experience and an instructor. A good instructor or advanced student in Judo or JuJitsu will be able to show their students how these work.

This book is one of six books in Geoff Thompson Ground fighting series. As the title suggests, this book concentrates on chokes and strangles.

The book opens with warnings on potential lethality of the techniques if done wrong. Next Thompson handles briefly some basic stuff on ground fighting, that don?t really belong into this book but the reader needs at least the basic knowledge of in order to understand the techniques presented in this book.

The rest of the book is devoted to various chokes and strangles, grouped together based on the position they are attempted from. The techniques are quite simple and proven, and for the most part they are explained well. On some occasions either the accompanying photographs and/or the text is somewhat misleading or could have been written more clearly. There is usually one photograph for each technique, but on some occasions there are 2-3 photos, and there is an odd technique with no photos. For the most part the photos are clear enough to understand the technique.

The book itself is a very good one, but the format it is sold in is not very good. Although there are almost 100 pages in the book, the text is printed in large font and spacing. With regular sized font and layout the book would take only some 50-60 pages. Because the books of the series are sold separately instead of one large volume, they have used large font to increase the page count and the price tag of the book. If the whole ground fighting series would have been printed into one large volume of some 300-350 pages, the price of the book would have been substantially lower than what you have to buy for all of the six separate books. And because you have to buy at least some, if not all of the books of the series anyway to really get the ground fighting game, it?s not a question of saving money by buying just the books you are interested in.

To sum it up, the book is a very good one, but if the whole series would have been published as one volume, it could very well be a five-star book instead of "only" four I?m giving to this one.

I thought this was a big help in starting my own fantasy league for professional wrestling. All major sports have their fantasy leagues, why shouldn't pro wrestling? The author made it easy to understand to set up your own league with your friends and allowed you to make up your own decisions and rules to fit your group. An original idea and safer than trying backyard wrestling.

This book is not what I expected. I thought it was going to go more in depth to what the title suggested. I wasn't thinking Backyard wrestling, but I was hoping for at least some lines of text that wouldn't insult my intelligence. This book would be better suited for the first time wrestling viewer who wanted to take it a whole different level.

After checking out Kaiju Big Battel's first and (so far) only DVD release "Terebi Sento" (check it out at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000E1W2A/qid=1086996280/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl74/102-3193714-6236900?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846), I found myself intrigued by this tongue-in-cheek melding of Japanese giant-monster-movie-type beasts and high-flyin' pro wrestling, with a little bit of comic-book-super-hero hokiness thrown in for good measure. My sudden interest in this absurd subgenre of `sports-entertainment' eventually led me to the official hardcopy guide to Kaiju Big Battel-the very thing I'm reviewing here. Inside this softcover tome are approximately 170 pages of profiles and origin stories of the various combatants and background characters, the inside scoop on the more notable rivalries and story lines, tech specs on the various weapons (sanctioned and otherwise) and equipment used in the battels, and synopses & results of the most famous battels. Battels which, unfortunately, only seem to occur out on the east coast of the U.S. (primarily NYC and Boston, apparently), which leaves a west-coast-bound kaiju geek such as myself pretty much S.O.L. when it comes to hoping for a KBB showdown in my neck of the woods...

Also thrown in are tips, warnings, and other dos and don'ts for the average KBB spectator to follow in order to keep him/herself out of harm's way during a bout. And just for fun-- and to see if you're paying attention-- are various quizzes, puzzles, and memory games that test you on the chapter you've just read. Quasi-manga-style cartoon illustrations help add just the right touch of American-adoption-of-Japanese-pop-culture to this geekin' read. My fave part of this book is the full-color photo section featuring the various Kaiju contestants. Each batteler's mugshot is accompanied by a brief profile written in `Engrish' (check out Engrish.com for some great examples of this amusing phenomenon). These grammatically questionable passages are the funniest pieces of text in this paperback, which aren't laden with quite as much of the groan-inducing corniness that the `proper' collections of words possess.

Aside from the silly text, my only real gripe about the official guide to Kaiju Big Battel is the placement of adverts for KBB products throughout the book (i.e. the "Terebi Sento" DVD on page 42, the Gomi-Man Play Sludge on page 86, and KBB T-shirts on page 138), rather than on the fringes*. Now don't get me wrong-- I'm aware that this outfit needs to get in a few merchandising bucks in order to keep Kaiju Big Battel going, and I don't want to begrudge them their right to take full advantage of the capitalist consumer culture. But I feel that when it comes to advertising wares-- especially one's own wares-- in a mass-media paperback, one should do so with some decorum and restraint. You know, something like a nice full-color single-page ad at the beginning or end of the book that gives the name of the KBB website (Kaiju.com), and the array of merchandise that can be found in the Kaiju Mall section of the site. That's it, just one page of plugs. Now you've got a few extra leaves of paper to fill in with some more kaiju back stories! Or you can just save those extra pages, thereby saving the lives of a few hundred trees. Let's not come off looking like we're desperate for the almighty dollar, now...

`Late

This book is a clever parody of three silly genres all at once: Japanese monster movies, the Manga craze, and professional wrestling. Largely I think it works well as a satirical piece of humor and social commentary, but mostly it is just good old fashioned fun.

The basic premise is that the evil Dr. Cube has created giant monsters that fight each other in the "Kaiju Big Battel" arena for entertainment of the masses. There are good and evil Kaiju, and some rogues that can change allegiances at the drop of a hat. The monsters here are not your typical Japanese Godzilla copycats, but rather creative originals such as Call-Me-Kevin (my personal favorite), the ridiculous looking Sky Deviler, and the heroic tuber, Silver Potato.

The book is broken down into a biography section, a section of famous Kaiju bouts, and assorted other features such as "How Sky Deviler's Digestive System Works" and "Silver Potato's Holiday Miracle". There is even a color spread that has very amusing faux-Japanese translations like: "Who is the sphincter mouth of depth-perception irrelevant monster? Sky Deviler most high ugliness the dive bomb swoop. Special appetite skill combine with brain lentil size create the deadliest!"

I found the book quite entertaining and diverting. I particularly love old Japanese monster movies, and seeing this pay homage to them while concurrently mocking Manga and wrestling made this book totally worthwhile for me.

I ordered this book to find about the man behind the title "total package" and am really disappointed abou this book. It tells only about his matches and nothing about the man himself; where he was born .where he grew up ; how he got interested in the wrestling career. I would not tell anyone else to buy this book.

He is my all time favorite wrestler. I am so glad i could find a book about him..

What kind of stuff is this???? Rikishi ain't a freakin Sumo Wrestler, his attire looks like Sumo attire but it ain't!

This book concerns all matters of sumo, instead of living in a heya (sumo stable) it describes and shows in many pictures (1/3 colour, 2/3 b/w) the life during jungyo (tours of sumo wrestlers over Japan). So it focussed not the 5 % well known wrestlers, but the 95 % normal wrestlers.

This book is an excellent tool to reach the world through sports (wrestling). I met three of the wrestlers recently that were mentioned in this book and talked to them personally and they are so committed to the Lord at all costs. Their humility was so inspiring to the crowd of young and old that surrounded them. These men are a great example of a true Christian.
Susie Garriott
San Anselmo, Ca.

This is a good fluff piece for Christians who are not serious wrestling fans. Unfortunatly if you are like me; a Christian who is a serious wrestling fan, it is lacking.

There are numerous mistakes in dates, opponents, matches, locations and other things, that about 10 minutes of research could have resolved. While it is great to focus on these men finding Salvation through our Lord, if you are going to document their career's you could at least make an attempt to be accurate! Also, to write a book on the premise of it being a preaching tool a bit more research should have been done on each wrestler!

The main problem with the inaccuracies is they will cause a hard core wrestling fan to lose interest in the deeper meaning behind the book.

this was the first wrestling related book i ever bought. i used to read this every night and i just couldnt put it down. learned a lot about the wrestling stars and the families in wrestling and about Chyna. if you are a wwe fan this is a must get!

When Mick Foley wrote about the ridiculous pitfalls of having a ghost writer initially ruin his life's story in the early stages of what became his self-penned, runaway best-seller, Have a Nice Day!, it should have been a warning for at least slightly more artistic control by others when their stories would be chronicled in the ongoing WWF/WWE series.

In this autobiography of Joanie Laurer and her character, Chyna, it sometimes packs a punch, but is weighted down by writer Michael Angeli, who seems to feel that her story of a tragic childhood and struggles to claw to the top in the wrestling industry requires sophomoric jokes and ridiculous imagery.

Sadly, what is a powerful story cannot ultimately rise from the crass overproduction; like so many storylines in the professional wrestling according to Vince McMahon. This is an outstanding example of the series at its most over-the-top, which means it is never had a ghost of a chance to be a successful autobiography.

Say, did you know Chyna hates every single person shes ever met? Or that she can't express a rational thought? Or that shes compleatly out of her mind? You would if you had wasted the time reading this pile of garbage.

I have read two copies of this book to pieces and have loved to go back to certain chapters to re-read them, just for the laughs. My favorite chapter is her first workout with Triple H, in which she confides to the reader she didn't know whether this was "going to be a workout or a WORKOUT (wink, wink)". Also, she lets others give direct quotes in her book, including Triple H. Of those, again I recommend the workout story, in which Triple H admits that he couldn't press 315 lbs, and when he tried, he "blew one of my n*ts across the room". Yet, Chyna did her reps and went on to leg presses. ...sigh...good times...

I can say that Chyna is my favorite wrestler of all time,and I can also say that her autobiography was amazing,Most say it is poorly written,But I would say other wise...I found the book to be quite interesting and brought you closer to the WWE diva.It showed you how hard she had it growing up with her mother and father...and How she made her way into the WWF now WWE.She brings you in closer on her careers before wreslting and what it took to become the most celebrated diva in WWE history of her time.She proved she was just as good as the men if not better then most of them.She made you see who the real chyna is...The side we dont see,the side that is Joanie Laurer!!

Since the explosion in popularity of professional wrestling in 1998, many less-then-well-researched "writers" have attempted to cash in on it. You can add the name of Scott Keith to this list. The major problems I have here are, first, that keith tries to be witty, but comes across as dull, and sometimes even offensive. Secondly, logic dictates that books like this should be objective, yet keith's biases shine through for all to see. I first encountered Keith back on the Internet in '98, and wasn't terribly impressed with his unique interpretation of the wrestling business back then, and since then I am ever more fascinated by his illogical approach. And of course, since this book was published, the wrestling world has gone through several siginificant changes, rendering the book obsolete. I would not reccomend this book to anyone, other than real wrestling fans who are looking to laugh at some unintentional comedy.

THE SHORT: A fan's tongue-in cheek review of wrestling's golden era, the 80s to the turn of the century. The author has a divided audience due to his internet column, but this book is much less negative and cynical and covers the "sport" with such passion and knowledge that it makes this the best and most informative wrestling book I've read.

THE LONG: I didn't know that this book's author, Scott Keith, has so many detractors until I saw negative reactions to him on the internet. It was then that I realized I'd read his second wrestling book, "Tonight In This Very Ring", which indeed is extremely judgmental and sometimes just cruel. Scott, like myself and many of you, is a fan generally thought of as a "smart mark"- that is, a fan who knows the truth behind most of what he's seeing yet watches it for the entertainment value and judges it accordingly. In that other book, "Tonight In This Very Ring", Scott shows what I believe people dislike in him- flat out disgust with the (admittedly worsening) product, so much that he seems to overstep his bounds as a fan and tear into the pseudo-sport as if he wishes he was calling the shots himself.

That's why I love this book so much (and did for a couple years before I read "Tonight"): It features Scott's legitimately extensive and correct knowledge of wrestling's inner-workings, but since it's part of a series that he didn't create (The "Buzz On..." series), it seems as if there was a natural restraint to his language and prose. As a result the entire mood of the book is different. If "Tonight" was a harshly critical and expectant viewpoint from a jaded fan, "The Buzz On" is a fan's history of the WWE/WCW that appreciates its better offerings but shows reserved disappointment when it could clearly do better.

This book then does two things that I believe it does best: Takes us through wrestling's circus-like heyday of the 80s and into the evolution of several of its most prominent characters, and also takes the action with a grain of salt. For example, unlike "Tonight" in which you'll see Scott flat-out call the Undertaker names that I can't recite here, in "Buzz" you'll see him basically laugh in disbelief when the same character morphs into an apparent zombie whose magic urn is stolen. In other words, he calls it like it is, and pokes fun where you know it should occur- but he's not overly aggressive or mean-spirited about it. The tone of this book is one of a fan who knows what wrestling can offer, and is disappointed when it goes terribly wrong.

As also stated, one of the book's finest virtues is a pretty thorough trip through wrestling's best years, the mid 80s. I haven't read any other book that describes the goofery of that specific decade so deeply, such as the feud between Jake the Snake Roberts and the Honkytonk Man, or the politics between Hulk Hogan winning Randy "Macho Man" Savage's title (which even Hogan's shallow autobiography didn't bother getting into). This is the era when I grew up watching wrestling, and I stayed for WCW and N.W.O.'s dominance. I lost a great deal of interest when the WWF just got ridiculous and homogenized in '95 through '98, and this book pretty lovingly covers the highs and many lows of that epoch as well. And again, though you get a clear understanding of Scott's preferred wrestlers and least liked workers, it's great shades lighter than his critical, unrestrained opinions of later efforts. The result is an informative book written by a knowledgeable fan, not a stale, uninvolved observer.

Most of the stuff you'll recall is in here: Andre's presence, Hulkamania, the rise of Shawn Michaels, WCW and its more technical style up until the N.W.O., Undertaker's increasing cartoonery, the war between WCW/WWE, Bret Hart's famous screwjob, and the over-saturation of Austin and the Mcmahon family. And as I already mentioned, a lot of other, smaller details are included, making this, if nothing else, one of the more historically interesting wrestling books available. And don't pay much attention to the occasional silly drawing and goofy photo selections in the book, it's all there to help cultivate the lighthearted mood.

Though several books on the subject are either markish (getting too into the fake side of things), too clinical and dry, or flat out critical (Scott's other works, as well as "Wrestlecrap" though in a fun way), none of them seem to best capture the history and silliness of the sport the way this one does. I went into it not knowing any of the politics behind the author, and wound up liking it a great deal. If you pick it up objectively, chances are you'll have fun reading it too.

Someone may have to explain this to me, because I just don't "get" Scott Keith. Keith has written his snide rants about wrestling for many years on the internet, while professing himself as a "smart mark" wrestling fan. I see him only rarely say something positive about professional wrestling, and I am left with one simple question... "Why does Scott Keith even bother writing about wrestling when it seems so obvious that he doesn't even enjoy modern day wrestling?" Keith is not funny, his comments are not cute, and with each read of his writing, he only further proves that it doesn't take intelligence to survive on the net. I am pleased to say that I did not purchase this book, and I hope that this review will keep others from wasting their money. If you want to know more about wrestling's past, present, and future, read books by authors that actually love the sport, and help stop funding morons like Keith that use sarcasm as a means to cover up their lack of knowledge. He doesn't like today's wrestling, he doesn't respect the athletes that perform every week, and I am saddened that his lack of writing skills have actually gotten him this far in life. For shame.

I got a ton of laughs out of this book...not because Scott Kieth is witty, because he's nowhere near it. I was laughing at the horrible proofreading and the numerous factual errors I spotted in the 5 minutes of my life (that I will never get back) I spent looking at this "book." Lou Albano's terrible book was more informative than this dung heap. Nice of Kieth's 10 friends to spend the time making up positive reviews, though.

I see that two of the negative reviews featured on the front page were written by people who have not even read this book. It seems at least several people decided to sound off their opinions on Keith's internet rants under the guise of reviewing the Buzz on Pro Wrestling.

For those that are unfamiliar with him, Scott Keith is most well-known for his "rants" on the internet, in which he reviews WWF Pay-Per-Views and television shows. Several reviewers have argued that Keith never writes anything positive about pro wrestling, that he just doesn't "get it" (a slogan the WWF has not used for at least a year). Obviously, such reviewers have not read Keith's review of WM X-7 (he called it perhaps the greatest PPV of all-time) or his glowing reviews of just about every PPV the WWF released in 2000.

Admittedly, Keith has been highly critical of the WWF's direction for the past year or so. Not coincidentally, however, the WWF has seen a major ratings decrease during that period. This week's episode of Smackdown! received a 2.9, a lower number than Raw put up at times when it constantly being trounced every week by WCW Monday Nitro. It appears that the fans who blindly defend the WWF against any criticism of the product are the ones who don't "get it."

Keith has shown an insight into Pro Wrestling that few exhibit, as can be seen by reading this book. After introducing the reader to basic wrestling concepts and "inside" terms, the author takes us through the early history of the sport, leading up to the 1980's, which begins the modern era that is Keith's major focus.

Keith separates the last twenty years into several distinct periods, providing biographies of the wrestlers that contributed most to the evolution of the sport and its popularity. Rather than simply a laundry list of wrestler stats and short stories, the book is actually a running narrative of the last two decades, conveyed by the stories of the wrestlers who stood out the most. He starts in the 1980's with Rock 'N Wrestling and Hulkamania, moving on to the WWF's down period in the mid 1990's and the corresponding rise of WCW. Finally, we meet the major players who contributed to the WWF's current (waning?) run of greatness from 1998 until the present.

There seem to be two major criticisms running through the negative reviews of this book. First are the grammatical errors. I had actually heard that the grammar was pretty bad before I read the book. However, whatever grammatical errors were present did not detract from my enjoyment or education while reading. There definitely are some errors, but not nearly enough to distract the reader or to merit (with no other reasons) a negative review.

Secondly, at least one reader argued that this book is "obsolete" because of the changes the industry has undergone since the summer of 2000. Since most of the book focuses on wrestling's history, I fail to see the reasoning behind this argument. Nothing Keith has written has been rendered factually inaccurate by recent events. While WCW no longer exists, of course, it is still both valuable and entertaining to learn about the careers of some of its performers, especially Ric Flair, who is still in the business. In addition, Bill Goldberg, also covered by the book, recently was released from his Time Warner deal, rendering it likely that he too will wrestle for someone in the near future. This book does a better and more objective job of covering the last twenty years in wrestling than any I know of. That it was written in 2000 does not change that.

I do have several criticisms, though. Firstly, I think Keith could have done a much better job documenting his information. He gives credit to Wade Keller's Pro Wrestling Torch and Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter as sources for most of his information, but never makes clear exactly what information was obtained from which source. It is impossible for the reader to independently verify much of what Keith writes, especially from the period before the rise of the internet. Even after that point, it is unclear what separates documented fact from unfounded internet rumor.

Secondly, this book was too bland. Scott Keith's greatest strengths as a writer are his sarcasm and wit. This book utilizes neither to anywhere near their full capacity, and this was a huge disappointment to me. The book is mostly just bland storytelling, which is especially unsatisfying for someone who is so used to Keith's wonderful humor. I highly recommend looking up his rants on the internet, especially if you enjoy this book.